Gorse Thorn Pains
Gorse Thorn ''Pa''ins Episode Ten, Season Five, of Cold. Enjoy <3 Season finale! I hope you enjoy my mini twist at the end of this season, and special thanks to everyone who has kept up with Cold! Gorse Thorn Pains The news of Crowheart and Sunny’s departure surprisingly made me feel...sad. The black tom would have been a good companion, had he not turned away from Clan life and...I don’t know what happened. Snowbreeze didn’t look broken on the outside, but I could see her searching the forest beyond ThunderClan, as if looking for Crowheart. Tell them we’re gone for good. It should have been a dream, Sunny and her group forever gone from our lives. But with Crowheart’s appearance added into the mix... I turned away from the scenery before us and began walking back to the island again. We had returned to where I confronted Sunny after the ceremony in order to talk to Tessa and Duskshadow. His scent lingered on the bushes, and I closed my eyes. Memories flowed over me, and my heart ached for the times I had Crowheart and he had been kind. Stop, you shouldn’t let your memories dwell on the lost ones. I forced myself to open my eyes again and hurry along the path. One by one, the others filed behind me, and I felt the weight of my responsibility lessen as I thought about Crowheart’s departure. One less danger to worry about. When I reached the island, I braced myself for the greeting from Wavekit and Mosskit. They always greeted us with joy, rushing forward and bowling us over with the element of surprise. But the greeting never came. I glanced around our camp only to see their nests empty, and the scent stale. Oh right. Wave''paw'' and Moss''paw'' now. They were apprentices of RiverClan, no longer our responsibilities. We seated ourselves comfortably. The tension in the air was still high, after the encounter with a cat we thought was dead. Dawnfur immediately curled up and closed her eyes tightly. Snowbreeze was ignoring Graystorm’s attempt to soothe her. Shade and Brownhare were sitting awkwardly apart from each other. Shade curled up next to me, and I muttered, “Why aren’t you talking to Brownhare?” “What for?” She glared over at me, the pain raw in her eyes. I shrugged, “To talk over your...relationship. There must me more to why he’s doing all this. He cared for you.” “He just doesn’t want us to be mates. He’s a ‘medicine cat’ or something.” My sister closed her eyes, “There’s nothing to discuss.” I sighed and glanced over at Brownhare. He was watching the forests past ThunderClan, and he seemed to resist the urge to glance over in Shade’s direction. Why can’t anything go right? “Let’s do something fun.” Kouhai suddenly mewed. Ryewillow glanced over at the silver tom, and then nodded eagerly, “Yeah, let’s have some fun.” Willowfur snorted, “Do we look like the type to have ‘fun’?” Dawnfur cracked open and eye and purred, “Chill out, Willowfur, we need to stop being so serious.” I rolled my eyes, “Okay, what ‘fun’ are we going to have?” “I know somewhere peaceful we can go to.” Shade mewed softly. Duskshadow twitched his whiskers, “Where?” My sister sat up and stretched, causing Brownhare to look over. Shade promptly ignored him and mewed, “It’s a beautiful place to watch the sunset. Come on, follow me.” She quickly hurried down a path, brushing past Brownhare. We all streamed after her. Brownhare was sitting there, his eyes wide. I nudged him, “Come on,” I sighed, “Don’t just sit there.” Shade let us through a series of ferns, brambles, and trees. Ruffled and tired, she finally stopped in an area sheltered by a canopy of trees. Before us was open sky, and the forest finally gave away to a cliff edge. “It’s beautiful,” the words escaped out of my mouth. The scenery, we made it just in time for the sunset, was gorgeous. The sun glowed a faint red, and the outside rings of the sun were yellow and faded. It looked far away, and the sky turned a mixture of red, purple, ad blue. Brownhare was sitting in the back, his eyes distant. Shade unconsciously glanced over at the brown tom, then blushed and looked away. Tessa leaned into Duskshadow, and the two of them sat on the side, murmuring about whatever they talked about. Snowbreeze started talking with Graystorm again, probably trying to relieve the stress she had been keeping in. Kouhai and Ryewillow, the unlikely couple of young cats, sat near the trees, excitedly chatting about their old life and possibly their new future. Dawnfur and Willowfur started an uneasy conversation about fishing and hunting in ShadowClan, both had nobody to pair up with in the group. Then... Shade and Brownhare were sitting there. Neither of them talked, and finally, I coughed, “Just talk it over,” I mumbled to Shade, “Try to get him to understand or something.” She cast me a glare, and I sat down and pretended to be staring at the scenery. It couldn’t get worse by talking, right? ~ Brownhare was just sitting there. Shade felt a twinge of frustration that he had to stop whatever was between them because he wanted to be a medicine cat. He wasn’t though. “So um...” He glanced over, and Shade nearly flinched by the intensity of his gaze. “We haven’t talked in a long time,” Shade continued, “I’m not going to...ask like last time, but maybe it’s your turn to tell me something.” Brownhare blinked, there was some kind of deep hurt in his eyes, “You don’t give me a chance to love you back,” he looked away again, “Not after that conversation we had.” Shade’s eyes flicked to his wound. Memories of their last conversation struck her. “What do you mean?” “''After'' the talk I had with you, and after Storm scolded me about it, you talked to her didn’t you?” The dark gray she-cat involuntarily took a step back. “And?” She knew where this was going. “You said ‘I wish Gorse was still here’.” Brownhare’s eyes reflected the pain I had been feeling the past few days, “Maybe I can’t compete with this ‘Gorse’ and how much he means to you.” “No I-” “You can’t deny it!” Shade flinched. “I was angry, I was broken by the words you said! You didn’t want us to get together. You-” “You don’t know everything about me.” Brownhare mewed quietly. Shade glared at him, tears gathering at her eyes now, “Doesn’t mean we can’t get together!” Brownhare sighed, “There’s more to the reason why I don’t want to be your mate. I don’t want to hurt you more than I have.” You can’t hurt me anymore than you already have, Shade thought, You’ve hurt me beyond repair. “Then tell me why.” The brown tom shook his head, “You wouldn’t understand.” “I might if you tell me!” Shade stared at him. Brownhare bit his lip, “Stop pressing at it, Shade, I’ve told you before, I do love you, but maybe we weren’t meant for each other. Maybe you love Gorse more.” He spat out the last words. Shade hadn’t ever seen Brownhare like this. We’re both broken by each other, maybe he’s right... She took another step back. “Fine, I’ll just stop trying to love you back!” She turned, tears running freely down her cheek and strode right out of the clearing. When she was far enough away, Shade whispered. “But I love you so much, Brownhare...” ~ I watched the exchange through narrowed eyes. Shade turned and stormed away, and Brownhare closed his eyes and took a few shaky breaths. I stalked over. “What in the name of StarClan were you thinking?” His eyes opened in a flash, “Why do you always assume I’m the one at fault?” He snarled, his ears flat, “I’m not the only reason this is happening!” I stared at him, “She just left the clearing crying! What else am I supposed to think?” I pointed with my tail where Shade left. Brownhare gritted his teeth, “She loves Gorse more anyways!” I couldn’t believe my ears. Sure, Shade loved Gorse more than anything, but he was dead. “He’s dead,” I mewed hollowly, “You’re alive and he’s dead, yet you still think Shade doesn’t love you?” “It doesn’t matter does it?” He mewed bitterly, “''I'' caused all this anyways.” He turned away, “Now you’re going to go and reassure Shade that I’m a frog-brained cat and I was the one who caused all her problems. Go do it,” he goaded, “Just tell her I love her anyways.” This time, instead of just sitting there, Brownhare got up and walked away. I stared after him. Brownhare never got this angry. He always did things in a quiet, collected manner. Yet...now...something had snapped. He needs Shade. I sighed and started after Shade. Sometimes, this made me glad I didn’t love anyone anymore. ~ She’s there! The cat sat back and stared at the dark gray she-cat from the trees. “She’s there, Comet, I found her.” He knew Comet wouldn’t reply. The little tom was dead now, and he knew he wasn’t coming back. I know he’s dead. Unlike how ''they thought Crowheart was dead. Comet’s gone for good.'' He stared at the she-cat, then hopped towards the next tree, following her progress from the trees. He had to be careful though. He couldn’t stray too far out of his area or he’ll be attacked by the Swoops. As he followed his target, he stopped abruptly when he saw her crying. Something’s wrong. He desperately wanted to jump down and comfort her, to remind her that he was here. But he knew she wouldn’t react well to that. Plus the Underground don’t like it when us Eagles come down to their land. A smaller figure emerged behind the dark gray she-cat. He stiffened in recognition. She’s all grown up now. The light gray she-cat comforted the older one, and the two seemed to be deep in conversation. I just want to get a closer glimpse. He slid down the tree with ease, and crept towards the two she-cats. He promised himself he would just get a better glance at their faces, absorb the details on the older she-cat’s face, and he would leave. But as he got closer, he heard their conversation. “I don’t understand why he’s like that,” the dark gray she-cat sobbed out, “He used to be so caring...” The tom stiffened immediately. He listened carefully for the younger she-cat’s next words. “You know why he does it.” They must be talking about someone else. “Y-yeah but, I thought he loved me,” she whimpered. The light gray she-cat wrapped her tail closely around her sister, “I’m sure he does love you, it just takes time for him to mend.” “I never did anything to hurt him!” “I wasn’t talking about you and him.” She’s changed so much...she’s definitely more mature than the last time I saw her. I wonder how they’re both faring. The more they talked, the more the tom realized that she, the one he cared about most, loved another tom. Shade... ~ I knew from the moment I started talking with Shade, something was off. It wasn’t Shade’s attitude, I’d seen her like that many times before. Someone else was watching us. I didn’t dare cast a glance over my shoulder, but I kept myself alert. I could feel the intensity of someone’s glare, they obviously didn’t want to be spotted, and it felt like they had been spying on us for some time and we never noticed. Which means something about this situation made him be less cautious. As I tried to reassure Shade that Brownhare still cared about her and nothing was wrong between them, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Leaf herself had taught me to be more alert to movement. I guess Shade didn’t really learn from that lesson. “I’ll leave you here to mourn a bit, okay? I’ll be back over there when you want to come back.” I told my sister. I turned and slid out of the small clearing she was in and hissed, “Hey, I know you’re there, come out.” There was no movement. I narrowed my eyes, “I’m not going to harm you, but I wanted to know why you were watching us.” Slowly, a tom came sliding out. I sucked in my breath sharply. He stared back. “You’ve grown,” he purred without mirth. “I didn’t think you’d spot me.” “Well, I didn’t think you’d be here.” I retorted. He glanced nervously over at where Shade must be, “Please don’t tell her...I don’t want her to suffer with the knowledge.” I couldn’t reply. This was happening to me too many times. “Maybe you should just leave.” He spared me a small, sad glance, “I just wanted to see you guys again... Is that too much to ask?” Before I could reply, someone breathed out. “Yes, it is.” Both of us turned. Two pairs of luminous blue eyes bore into the eyes of my ‘companion’. “Gorse?” The End. Now you’re all going to wonder if anyone dies in this series. c: Category:Fan Fictions Category:Cchen3's Fanfics Category:Cold